


Wake.

by Alcalexandria



Category: Dark Fate - Fandom, Terminator (Movies), Terminator - All Media Types, Terminator: Dark Fate
Genre: And all that might imply, Canon Compliant, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:29:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22110343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alcalexandria/pseuds/Alcalexandria
Summary: Grace knows she's out of the fight.
Relationships: Dani Ramos/ Grace, Grace/Dani Ramos
Comments: 19
Kudos: 103





	Wake.

**Author's Note:**

> Any feedback is really appreciated.

Grace was dying.

She’d been to this brink once before, and some of the sensations were familiar.

Some of them were new – her body had new ways to experience it this time.

Systems and sensory inputs failed in cascades so quickly she couldn’t distinguish them. Her biological body - what was left of it - gave her up last.

She could feel the cold concrete beneath her, and she knew that meant her augmentations weren’t generating their own heat anymore. She could smell burning metal, an acrid stink she knew better than muscle memory. She felt wreckage against her body, heavier than it should be. And she heard Dani’s voice, though she couldn’t pick out words anymore.

She was dimly aware of flickering light, like fire somewhere nearby.

\----

She woke up in a hotel room, too tired to wonder how she’d got so far. She asked, and was told she was safe.

Sarah was safe too, but not there. She remembered understanding why Sarah left, and that it was for a good reason. She knew that Sarah was safe, and was going somewhere safe, and for the right reason. It was just a different safe place to the one where she was.

She was glad about it. She had come to respect Sarah, and maybe even like her a little bit, and it was important to her that she would go somewhere she deserved to be.

For the first few weeks, Dani managed to keep her fed, hydrated, medicated, and rested. Even moved her when she needed to - she had a vague awareness of being moved a number of times, of Dani propping her up to stumble as far as the truck, or from the truck to a hotel room, in whatever order.

Grace understood she had been wounded, and might never be at full strength again – but that was okay.

This was a different world to the one she'd grown up in. She started recognizing, quickly, how different. It was safer, generally, in about every way. There was more of everything. Danger was abstract. It was okay for her to take time to get better.

She did get better. So gradually there was no clear marker between her foggy, endless recovery, and her newest lease of life. Dani was always there, the centre of her earth, and she kept a hold on that. It was all she'd really ever needed.

One day, when she woke up, she was aware she was somewhere in the country of Mexico. She had no idea how they’d gotten across the border, but they had.

That felt right though, somehow. Mexico had never been her home, but the sound of Spanish meant safety in a way English didn’t. The years after Judgement Day were all in English. Legion’s code was always scattered with English words. Radio alphabet, boot camps, outposts, orders and infirmaries – the sound of the war was English. But the sound of sanctuary, for her, was always Spanish.

Dani took care of her. Dani had always taken care of her, one way or the other, but it took getting used to now. It was no longer some favor applied to her like a miracle – it was just a matter of fact. Part of her life. She was starting to feel safe, and that felt strange for a long time. It took a long time for that not to feel dangerous in itself.

She would watch the door of their hotel rooms, for hours. Later, she would sit outside the room, and watch their horizons. Nothing came for them.

Grace had lived so hard for so much of her life. Learning a new kind of normal, where constant, complete vigilance was a liability, a drain on energy and resources - rather than a necessity – was difficult. But it was possible, and a good thing to get to do.

Dani was patient and understanding, as ever.

As soon as she was able, they began doing normal things. Dani got her used to being around people in places that wouldn’t have CCTV systems worth a damn. She got her used to having food available. She got her used to walking around outdoors under open sky.

One day, she drove them to the ocean; Grace hadn’t felt ocean waves since she was a kid, and hadn’t realized how much her body had missed the sensation.

One day, she took her to some woods; Grace hadn’t seen so many trees – living trees – in forever. She had seen individual plants or whole crops here or there, but to see a whole wild world of them... it was like stepping into an alien landscape where _everything_ was alive. There were so many colors of green in one place, it was overwhelming.

One day, Dani took her to see her family, from a safe distance.

_They’re happy. Her brother is alive – her father and mother are alive. They’re all happy, and have long futures ahead of them. It is strange to know she’s a stranger to them, but that’s what she is._

_Even to the girl – she will never grow into somebody who would understand her. She will become somebody Grace would not recognize._

_None of them will ever know her. And they do not need her. She is glad, and happy, to realize this. She wishes them all the happiness this softer world can offer, and then says goodbye._

When enough time passed for it to be reasonable, Dani found a place in Mexico City. Grace objected at first, but Dani convinced her it made sense. And it was her call to make anyway.

They make money one way and another, and share it. They buy food, clothes, whatever, they share all that too. They share space. They develop habits and routines around each other.

Dani takes her to all the places she had heard (would hear?) her Commander reminisce about in cold, grey bunkers on cold, grey nights. They’re all brighter and louder than she was ready for, as noisy and alive as they were in the Commander's telling. Everything tastes and smells and sounds just like she'd imagined.

Grace teaches Dani what she knows, and tells her stories about the lives they’ve both had (would have? Would have had?) back in the future they hope they've thwarted.

One day, after too much food and a little drink, as they half-watch a DVD, Dani kisses her. They go to bed together that night, and after that, always do.

One day, as they lie together, as she admires the contrast and complements of their tangled up hands, Dani tells her she loves her.

Grace admits she loves her too, and has for as long as she can recall.

They make love with sunshine on their bodies. Grace’s scars have disappeared, and Dani is as beautiful as she has always been. Will be. Would have been.

Month comes after month. Months become a year. Two years. After that they stack up.

They stayed careful for a very long time, remembering Sarah and her son. But Judgement Day came and went. They never saw a Terminator again. They built a real life instead, and lived it.

\----

Grace was dying.

Her augmentations fought for her, for as long as they could with only the energy her body could offer. Seconds in a human lifetime. Lifetimes in digital processing.

Damage assessments were made, triages formulated, redundancy circuits triggered. Every possible reroute and diversion was tried, and efforts at repairs even initiated. Everything. Everything her organic and inorganic body could do for her, cells and networks and relays, all raging furiously to function, to save her.

It couldn't work. Even the feedback mechanisms themselves were failing, falling like dominos, until the damage couldn’t even be measured anymore, never mind undone. Already, her mind was struggling to interpret her own senses.

It became impossible for her body to even try to fix her; and what still worked wouldn’t work for long.

What would work, so long as her heart still beat, were her endocrinological systems, organic and inorganic. And so, whatever was left for her, went there.

Endorphins, synthetic and not, flooded Grace’s ruined body in a final, spectacular cloudburst. They raced through her and found pathways home, crowding out all other sensation. What pain there was became distant and uninteresting. What came instead was euphoric.

All in a handful of heartbeats. Closing punctuation to a human being.

\----

Grace could feel cool linens beneath her. She could smell food and smoke from the street vendors' stoves out below their open window. She felt Dani, safe against her; she heard her murmur contentedly in her sleep, though she couldn’t make out any words.

She was dimly aware of flickering light, morning sun coming through fluttering drapes.

She was safe, somewhere safe enough to rest when she was tired. Dani was safe, and would stay safe. There was nothing she needed to do. She was happy.

She drifted away.


End file.
